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The medal was Wiggins’ seventh, making him the most decorated British Olympian of all time. Then the drinks started flowing at the British Olympic Association’s games base next to Olympic Park.

“He is absolutely thoroughly entitled to have a fantastic party and celebrate,” BOA chairman Colin Moynihan said Thursday. “Nobody deserves it more.”

After competing, Moynihan, a former Olympic rower, said “you get a bit dehydrated.”

“That vodka and tonic might have had a bit more of an effect than it might have done under normal circumstances,” he said.

Wiggins on July 22 became the first Briton to win the Tour de France. After donning his winner’s yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysees, he said he would pass on the champagne and turn his focus to the London Games. It paid off.

“It’s extraordinary what he has done,” said Andy Hunt, head of Britain’s Olympic delegation. “There isn’t a person in the country who wouldn’t want to buy him a drink.”

After appearing at his second Olympics in 2004, Wiggins was downing drinks for months after the Athens cauldron was extinguished. Now he says the drinking is under control.

“I lead a pretty normal life,” he said between sips of a vodka and tonic on Wednesday night. “I’m not a celebrity. I will never be a celebrity.”